Saturday, August 18, 2012

London Olympics-Should India be really proud of it?

On the offset of world’s largest democratic country-India’s
66th Independence Day I want to contrive some light on our performance
on recently commenced London Olympics 2012.

Now that the Olympics are done and dusted for another four
years, the question must be asked-Was India’s performance in London Olympics
best? Should we really be gratified with what we got? Or is my thinking
completely unwarranted?

Population is an over-rated medal factor. Olympics
powerhouse i.e. China (1) and US (3) are two of world’s most populated
countries but contrary to it India (2), Indonesia (4), Pakistan (6) with so
much talent are hardly noticeable on medal chart. Countries like India
(cricket) and Brazil (soccer) concentrate nnarrow spectrum of sports. May be
that’s another reason behind this medal drought.

As per Zee News India spent ₹123 crore and as per
indiaspend.com expenditure incurred on preparation for Olympics and sending
teams and officials comprising of 136 persons (81 athletes, 8
doctors/physiotherapists/masseurs and 9 other) was

₹135.60 crore of which ₹18 crore were on Hockey Team.

Which was like mere one crore on each individual!!!!

Indian athletes have always suffered for funds and
world-class infrastructure since Olympics continuance.

But this year world’s richest Indian Mr. Lakshmi Mittal
spent a whooping ₹66 crore ($ 12 million) from his Mittal Champions Trust
for the athletes. And in an interview he even said that he will happy if India
doubles the Gold count since its last Olympics (Beijing Olympics-one)!!

But versus that expectation India came empty handed and not
even accumulated a single Gold. Instead countries like Mexico, Uganda, Lativa, Algeria, Bahamas and
Ethiopia won more Gold than us. And we ended five position lower than Beijing
Olympics. 55thone.

Not indeed a nice medal tally for wannabe super-power!!

Even Sahara Group is spending over ₹25 crore per annum on
sports and athletes.

So at least money is not the issue for Indian athletes.

Moreover every medallist is crorepati by now as a reward for
medals.

Surely India is facing medal drought since commencement of
modern Olympics. But this can surely be adjudicated.

India needs a strong infrastructure for same and cacoethes
should be initiated in cradle.

Effective participation might play an important factor.
Effective participation in fact is the percentage of total population of India
which actually have direct participation in India’s sporting events and
activities. So, despite giant population India’s effective participation is abysmally
low. If base is small, peak is surely going to be short.

Surely India has a long-run to go to stand in top medal
winning countries. And I am with positive mindset that India will surely shine
in Rio de Janeiro, 2016!